An unpublicized report prepared by the state's bipartisan Legislative Research Unit concludes that total borrowing costs have risen as a result of the governor's moves last year to lengthen the maturity of state bonds and push repayment of principal further into the future.

While those actions relieved pressure on the super-tight state budget, taxpayers are on the hook for an extra $6.3 billion in bond debt service over the next 30 years, the research unit found.

The unit emphasized that its findings don't take into account inflation, which could dramatically reduce the eventual real cost of paying back debt. In fact, both the Blagojevich administration and some outside experts say the moves should pay off by allowing the state to take advantage of today's near-record-low interest rates.

But other financial watchdogs disagree, and Illinois Senate Republicans have seized on the report to argue for new limits on when and how Mr. Blagojevich can borrow.

"We're manipulating finances to free up cash right now and not pay the piper until years from now," says Sen. Christine Radogno of LaGrange, the GOP spokeswoman on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She says that Illinois will repay just $12.7 million of principal on Blagojevich borrowing between 2004 and 2007, when his term expires, but faces $7 billion in principal repayments between 2023 and 2026, long after Illinois presumably has a new governor.

Under debate is the question of how the state should structure its debt at a time of economic difficulty.

States and cities all around the country have engaged in creative techniques to balance books in the past couple of years. For instance, North Carolina moved to extend 20-year maturities on its debt to 25 years. Wisconsin refinanced $100 million in debt payments that were due this year, pushing them off 10 years into the future in a technique bond raters dubbed "scoop and toss," says John Kenward, an analyst with the Chicago office of Standard & Poor's (S&P).

But though Illinois has company, it appears to have been particularly aggressive on several fronts.

Complete coverage of this story appears in the March 22 issue of Crain's and is available online